Video gaming leads to surge in rickets

Video games and social networking sites have been blamed for a shocking rise in cases of rickets in children.

Some doctors thing that the rise in cases of rickets is due to children spending too much time indoors playing video games.

Spending hours in front of a computer means youngsters do not go outdoors enough and suffer from a lack of vitamin D, doctors say.

It can lead to rickets, once associated with poverty in Victorian Britain, but now making a comeback.

Researcher Prof Simon Pearce said: “Kids tend to stay indoors more these days and play on their computers instead of enjoying the fresh air.

“This means their vitamin D levels are worse than in previous years. The number of patients still presenting with symptoms of vitamin D deficiency shows we have a long way to go.”

Rickets, which can leave sufferers with bowed legs and fragile bones, can affect children of all ages, from just a few months old through to teenagers. Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

Prof Pearce and Dr Tim Cheetham, writing in the British Medical Journal, said there were 20 new cases of rickets every year in Newcastle alone.

NHS figures suggest 100 children are treated in England every year.

The researchers, from Newcastle University, are calling for vitamin D to be added to milk and other food products to stop the spread of rickets.

Dr Cheetham added: “Fifty years ago, many children would have been given regular doses of cod liver oil but this practice has all but died out.”

Games industry spokesman Richard Wilson said: “It would be completely wrong to put this issue on the doorstep of video games, which can be beneficial. Things like Wii Fit can encourage exercise.”